Patent Application
20180179482
The present invention relates to a flexible fermentation, storage, transportation, and dispensing vessel, and more particularly, to a vessel that is structured and/or configured to ferment and/or store a liquid that can be cooled, heated, pressurized and/or protected from environments that would affect fermentation as a standalone container and/or in conjunction with additional device(s) using a flexible material and/or ports.
Conventional fermentation and/or storage and/or transportation vessels, such as a carboy, a keg, or a bottle, are rigid containers that can be sealed to contain a liquid as it ferments into alcohol, pressurized to carbonate the liquid, and then store, transport, and serve said liquid after the fermentation is complete. The average brewer can have two to three (or more) fermenters or other containers that they have to use every time they brew, which take up space. The brewer must also clean and sanitize all of the fermenters and transfer the beverage between one or more of them. Each additional manual cleaning, sanitation, and transfer step introduces a typically high risk of introducing infection, other contamination, and/or an undesirable amount of oxygen and/or UV light to the fermentation process. Many of the currently available fermentation containers can also be easily damaged, which happens often. For example, glass or PET carboys typically get dropped and dented.
Various embodiments of the present invention may be advantageous in that they may solve or reduce one or more of the potential problems and/or disadvantages discussed above.
Various embodiments of the present invention may exhibit one or more of the following objects, features and/or advantages:
It is a principal purpose and advantage of the present invention to provide a flexible vessel for the fermentation of a liquid. A flexible vessel for fermentation and/or storage and/or transportation of a liquid includes one or more of the following advantages over conventional fermentation vessels (as compared to conventional fermentation vessels): takes up less storage space, is able to be easily disposed after use, can be manipulated into particular shapes to enhance the fermentation process, can be easily sanitized or sterilized, can be easily transported, is difficult to destroy, is difficult to temporarily or permanently damage, or break into multiple pieces by dropping and/or hitting, only requires to be stored in locations that can contain the volume of the liquid (unlike solid fermentation vessels that need to be stored in locations that can accommodate the vessel's shape).
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flexible vessel for the fermentation, storage and/or transportation of the liquid either as a standalone container and/or in conjunction with additional device(s) which perform similar functionalities such as automated fermentation, storage, and/or transportation of the liquid.
In accordance with the foregoing objects and advantages, an embodiment of the present invention is directed at a flexible fermentation vessel including one or more of the following: a flexible material that is used to contain the liquid, one or more ports to interact with the liquid in the vessel and/or between the port and the valve, one or more valves to contain the liquid in the vessel.
The details of one or more embodiments are described below and in the accompanying drawings. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will in part be obvious, and in part appear hereinafter.
The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated by reading the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated by reading the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like components.
According to an embodiment, a flexible fermentation vessel 100 is shown in
According to an embodiment, the flexible fermentation vessel 100 can be constructed by using one or more materials, exclusively or in combination, such as but not limited to plastics, metals, alloys, ceramics, and composites including, but not limited to, polyethylene and its variants (HDPE, LDPE, polyethylene terephthalate, biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate, among others), polypropylene, nylon, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyimide films, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, stainless steel, aluminum, nickel, zinc, chromoly, copper, titanium, silver, tin, platinum, iron, gold, alumina, zirconia, steatite, mullite, cordierite and lava.
According to an embodiment, the flexible fermentation vessel 100 is flexible, disposable, and can repeatedly withstand temperatures as low as 32° F. and as high as 175° F. for sanitation, for example, by hot water inside the flexible fermentation vessel 100. The flexible fermentation vessel 100 can also be impenetrable by or has a high impermeability to oxygen (e.g., <5 cm3-mil/(100 in2-24 HRS-ATM) at 25° C.), carbon dioxide (e.g., <5 cm3-mil/(100 in2-24 HRS-ATM) at 25° C.), water vapor (e.g., <0.5 g-mil/(100 in2-24 HRS) at 37.8° F. and 90% RH) and/or UV light, and can be pressurized. The flexible fermentation vessel 100 can have one or more ports and valves while still offering enough protection against dropping/hitting/damaging the container (as compared with conventional devices). These features can be essential to the fermentation of beverages and are not present in any other conventional food containers or fermenters.
Sanitation is an important factor because it is particularly burdensome for home and commercial fermentation. Most conventional fermenters are not able to withstand temperatures higher than 150° F., and the conventional fermenters must be sanitized with a chemical prior to brewing. Brewers must then clean the fermenter after brewing. However, because the flexible vessel of an embodiment can be disposable, the cleaning step can be eliminated and a sanitation step can be done before the user receives the vessel.
In addition, as the flexible fermentation vessel 100 of an embodiment can be impenetrable by or has a high impermeability to the elements described above, it can also be able to be used as a storage container for a fermented beverage and/or ingredients, such as liquid or dry malt extract, solid grains and additives, malted grain and malted gain extract, yeast, and/or hops, and other ingredients to be transformed into (or can be used to form) a fermented liquid or beverage. As discussed in the Background section above, the average brewer has two to three (or more) fermenters or other containers that they have to use every time they brew, which take up space. The brewer must also clean and sanitize all of the fermenters and transfer the beverage between each of them. Each additional manual cleaning, sanitation, and transfer step has a high risk of introducing infection, other contamination, and an undesirable amount of oxygen and/or UV light to the fermentation process. Many of the currently available fermentation containers are also easily damaged, which happens often. For example, glass or PET carboys get dropped and dented. However, the flexible, disposable vessel of an embodiment can replace two to three (or more) containers with just one unit (vessel) and can solves all of the above listed issues of cleaning, sanitation, and storage.
In one embodiment of a method for manufacturing the vessel is made from one or more layers of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or low-density polyethylene (LDPE), with an exterior layer or coating made of a mylar, nylon, aluminum, or ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH). HDPE allows the vessel to be flexible and prevents oxygen and carbon dioxide to leave and enter the bag, while mylar protects the bag against UV light. In place of HDPE, LDPE may be used to improve the flexibility and puncture resistance of the bag, while nylon or ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) may be used to mitigate oxygen and carbon dioxide penetration.
The present application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/438,490, filed Dec. 23, 2016, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62438490 | Dec 2016 | US |
